Photos testifying to the dire situation of people in Artsakh have appeared frequently on the Internet recently. Show those photos to any “Nikol-fan,” a person who has no connection with the state elite, an ordinary citizen who likes the current government’s politics. Will that image evoke sympathy in him? I’m sure not.
The problem is that we already have the “stock” of our ideas and beliefs when we are presented with any picture, video, or fact. The image of a suffering person does not appear on the “white page” of our soul or brain but in the context of many actual or imaginary images.
Let me give a simple example. A year or two before the revolution, a taxi driver refused to take me to North Avenue. Why? “Because the people from Karabakh live there.” According to that driver, some people who robbed, oppressed, and humiliated him also came to Yerevan and bought a house in the capital’s most expensive neighborhood.
This poison was injected into people for decades, and now it is impossible to dissuade them; If you want, give them a complete list of residents of Northern Avenue or present the average income and number of calories of people living in Artsakh today. Nothing will change their belief. And here you show the photos of people suffering in Artsakh to those with such a belief. It should not be surprising that these images do not evoke any sympathy.
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Such is the “nuclear electorate” of today’s government. I am far from thinking these people are monsters; they can be faithful husbands and caring parents. Simply those who study today’s Armenian society and want to implement some plans should not have illusions and engage in self-deception; they should know who they are dealing with.
Now, I think it is also clear why those citizens who try to raise their voices in the streets of Yerevan in defense of the people of Artsakh are subjected to merciless ridicule.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
